Dominican leader announces sweeping police reform, anti-gun measures

President Danilo Medina on Wednesday promised to implement measures to fight crime and gender violence in the country, if reelected for a second term.

Speaking at the at the American Chamber of Commerce’s monthly luncheon , Medina said he submitted a bill to Congress to create Law 911 to Control and Regulate Firearms, and the Police Reform Law, initiatives he affirms “will allow us to take a giant step towards having a safer, more reliable and peaceful country and with a modern police.”

“The Police will generalize the quadrant system as a method of prevention. To this end, it will map the entire territory and areas with a higher presence of crimes to receive reinforcements, police surveillance and joint patrols.,” Medina said.

He promised stronger measures on bearing and possessing weapons “so that people with a history or pending cases of violence can’t get access to licenses [...] and, additionally , we will promote plans to collect illegal guns and those whose possession or carrying cannot be justified.”

Panic Button

Medina also announced the implementation of a “panic button” system that will help women report assaults against them. “This is a Panic Button that not only alerts the police and prevents aggression, but also records the audio of what happened, and thus serves as evidence in court.”